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Ceremony in Mahoning courthouse recalls Holocaust
Holocaust Commemoration Ceremony
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The 19th annual Holocaust Commemoration Ceremony was held today in the Mahoning County Courthouse.
YOUNGSTOWN
Jewish community leaders remembered the Holocaust in a solemn ceremony in the Mahoning County Courthouse rotunda with a special emphasis this year on honoring the rescuers who risked their lives to save victims from Nazi atrocities.
“The lessons of such extreme inhumanity should not be forgotten,” Rabbi Joseph Schonberger of Temple El Emeth said Thursday of the Holocaust. “Maintaining humanity seems like an impossible responsibility, and so we have to learn from those who’ve experienced these things,” he added.
“There are so many people who maintained their humanity and helped so that people could survive, so that people would not be tortured,” the rabbi said.
As part of the Holocaust Remembrance Day observance, Edith Blau of Liberty and Aranka Furedi of Youngstown, sisters and survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp, lit six memorial candles on a candelabra, each candle representing 1 million Jews killed in the Holocaust.
Victims of the Holocaust included Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, mentally disabled and sick people and opponents of the Nazi regime.
The ceremony recognized famous rescuers, including Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest, Hungary; German industrialist Oskar Schindler at his Poland factory; Miep Gies, who hid Anne Frank in Holland; and Danish resistance fighters, who ferried nearly all Danish Jews to safety in Sweden; and many other less-known rescuers.
“We hope that others in times of great violence will rise up and act selflessly to save others,” said Helene Sinnreich, history professor and director of the Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies at Youngstown State University.
Mayor Charles Sammarone presented a proclamation recognizing the observance.
The 19th annual community Holocaust memorial observance recognized winners of the Jewish Community Relations Council’s annual student Holocaust essay and poetry contest.
“The important mission of education and sensitization about the Holocaust is ongoing within the Mahoning Valley,” said Suzyn Schwebel Epstein of Liberty, chairwoman of the Ohio Council on Holocaust Education, who presented the awards to the students.
“On this day, we recall the burning of the synagogues, the houses of study, the destruction of our holy books and Torah scrolls, the sadistic torment and annihilation of our scholars and teachers,” said Rabbi Franklin Muller of Congregation Rodef Sholom.
“We also remember those who risked their lives to do what they could to help and make a difference by participating in the rescue of so many thousands, who otherwise would surely have perished,” he added.
“May their example help us all to strive, toil and sacrifice for the coming of that day when violence and desolation shall be no more,” he added during the closing prayer.
Another local Holocaust memorial observance will be the annual Shoah Memorial Ceremony at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Jewish Community Center, 505 Gypsy Lane.